Forming Faith Blog

Teaching Creation (Genesis 1)

Posted on August 26 2025 by Gregory Rawn

Which direction will you go as you teach and preach Genesis 1? You can focus on who God is, who we are, God’s joy in creation, or our role as stewards.

Photo of common kingfisher flying above river. How do you go about teaching the creation story?
Photo by Monique Laats on Pexels.com
The Narrative Lectionary, Spirit & Truth, and Forming Faith

It’s September, summer’s over, and for many in the Northern Hemisphere, the school/program year is starting! September is also the start of the Narrative Lectionary! You likely came to this blog to look for Narrative Lectionary (NL) resources, but if not, the Narrative Lectionary is a specific calendar of Bible passages to be used in worship (i.e., a lectionary). This lectionary goes from September through May (September 7, 2025–May 24, 2026, this year) and the Bible passages cover creation through the prophets/return from exile in the fall (through Advent 3), a single Gospel from Advent 4 through Easter 2, and Acts and the Epistles until Pentecost Sunday. Summer is left to various sermon series. The NL is a four-year cycle to give equal time to all four Gospels. This year is Year 4, and the Gospel passages will be from the Gospel of John.

My name is Gregory Rawn, and I’m the owner and publisher here at Spirit & Truth Publishing. My team of experienced contributors (editors, writers, layout artists, etc.) and I create easy-to-use, theologically sound, and inclusive faith formation resources. While we have many products, our largest series includes ten products that follow the Narrative Lectionary. Thus, this weekly Forming Faith blog gives reflections on the upcoming NL passages during the program/NL year with a focus on faith formation (though I often nerd out on language, history, etc., too).

So, now you know. As with each year of the Narrative Lectionary, let’s begin at the beginning. Here are some of my thoughts on different directions you can go as you plan your faith formation opportunity (classes, small groups, preaching, worship, etc.).

Genesis 1 as Introduction

The Bible begins “in the beginning,” which is what “Genesis” means. Beyond a desire for a complete chronology, why start at creation? This first creation story (Genesis 1:1–2:4a) is an introduction, specifically starting to address two questions:

  1. Who is God?
  2. Who are we?
Who Is God?

The answer to the first question, as given in Genesis 1, is that God is the creator of all that is. This isn’t just that God is the “starter” of the world. God is:

  • The Creator who actively formed the universe out of nothingness and chaos. 
  • The Ruler of the whole universe, not just one people group.
  • The Artist who lovingly formed every aspect of the universe, including you and me.

I’ll get to the second question later on.

Faith formation suggestion:

  • Especially with younger participants, focus on the last point: God as artist. As human beings, we naturally have a sense of awe at the beautiful complexity of life, the universe, and everything. Lean into this, explaining that God purposefully and lovingly made the work of art that is the universe—including them!
Joy of and in Creation

It is not hard to notice the poetic structure of this creation story with the repetition of: “And God saw… that it was good.” One of the theological points of this creation story is that the physical world is, in fact, good. Other mythologies and religions have argued that the physical is bad, the spiritual is good. Not our YHWH. Everything that was created—physical, spiritual, etc.—is good.

And this isn’t “good” as in “morally right” or “pleasant.” The Hebrew word here is tov, and tov has a much richer meaning than our English “good.” It can describe something as joyful, prosperous, or vigorous. Throughout the process, God looked at God’s artistry and declared it “joyful.” I don’t think it is much of a stretch to say that the act of creation and the creation itself bring God joy.

Faith formation suggestion:

  • Joy is a great way to start the program year! We can (and should) rejoice and enjoy the world God created. And it’s great news that God finds joy in us, too.
Honoring the Image of God

Now we can get to the second question that this creation story addresses: Who are we? The rest of Genesis specifically goes into who the people of Israel are, but Genesis 1 covers all of us. It answers, in part, who we are as human beings. Are we accidents of creation? Are we created to be slaves of the gods? No. Emphatically, no. 

Then God said, “Let us make humans in our image, according to our likeness… ” So God created humans in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:26-27

Israel’s contemporaries could “see” their gods in the physical images they created. The people of YHWH could “see” God within each other, and they were charged to act accordingly. This is the connection between the “love God” and “love your neighbor” commandments. 

The image of God is the Jewish and Christian theological basis for human rights. Humans have rights simply for being human. Rights are not rewards for good behavior or gifts bestowed by an accident of birth into the right family, social class, or country. And, while they can be violated, human rights cannot be taken away. We deserve a life with dignity simply because we are made in God’s image. The work to remedy the systems that deny human rights is the work of justice.

Faith formation suggestion:

  • The idea of the image of God can be illustrated with a stamp or similar, as we are “stamped” with God’s image. You can also make the connection I explained above between God’s image and justice.
Caretakers and Co-creators

The same verses that establish humans as being made in God’s image also include a charge: for humanity to “have dominion.” As much as I want it to, it does not seem faithful to the original to translate “dominion” as “stewardship.” The Hebrew word denotes ruling and subjugating. However, Scripture is also clear that

The earth is the LORD’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it.

Psalm 24

Creation does not belong to us to do whatever we want with it. Creation is God’s, and we are given the charge to be stewards. Just like we don’t own a library book to treat (or mistreat) as we please, we are held responsible for how we treat what is on loan to us from God. Thus, we are caretakers and stewards.

Part of the image of God in us, as well as the commission to take care of creation, is that we have a spark of God’s creativity within us. We can, in our little way, be co-creators with God. We can take the materials we have been given and create something that honors God and our neighbors. We can be artists like God and make something beautiful.

Faith formation suggestion:

  • Impress on your faith formation participants the idea of stewardship. Illustrations like library books can be accessible to all ages. While our stewardship covers everything, the creation story makes it easy to focus on our stewardship over our natural environment
Conclusion

I can never claim, or achieve, anything new or revolutionary in my reflections or suggestions on this blog. But I hope this has gotten your creative juices flowing.

In God’s amazing grace,

Gregory Rawn (Publisher)

Download FREE, full lessons for 9/7/2025
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Free Resource

During the main Narrative Lectionary year (September 7 to May 24), we provide a free resource download from one of our products to help you in your faith formation ministry. As the start of a new year, this week, I’m providing a sampler of the full lessons for Lesson #4-1 “God’s Good Creation” from nine out of ten NL resources. We also provide a free NL Planning Tool to help your planning!  

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The 2025-2026 program year is here! Do you have all the faith formation resources you need? Our Narrative Lectionary (Year 4, 2025-2026) and Revised Common Lectionary (Years C & A, 2025-2026) resources are online, ready to order, and available for immediate download! If you don’t have much time for full-length children’s Christian education, then check out our Kids Mini Lessons for the NL and RCL. If you don’t use a lectionary, check out our non-lectionary Living the Word: Classroom (PK-2nd, 3rd-6th).

Are you looking for resources for topical Sunday school, family/intergenerational events, retreats, and more?

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Learning Together is a series of five-lesson units on a variety of topics. You can read outside reviews on both our Do Justice and Created to Care units! Our faith formation resources are easy to use, theologically sound, and inclusive.

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